bill weber lancaster, CA | the XF90 was the first model in a long line that i built as a six year old in 1952.who would have thought that i would actually work for lockheed,the company that built it, for 39 years before i retired in 2010 .i was launching and recovering U-2 aircraft for them as a flt.line mechanic in my last assignment. 04/12/2011 @ 14:04 [ref: 37226] |
Jack L Gilbert Rio Rancho, NM | I always thought that the F-90 was the epitomy of what a fifties-era jet fighter should look like. If you gave a kid a pencil and paper and told him to draw a jet, he'd produce something just like the F-90. 02/21/2009 @ 14:52 [ref: 23787] |
Walt Wigren , GA | When could we expect to see a new model of the f-90 become available? Do any manufactures have any plans to make it? 02/05/2008 @ 16:43 [ref: 19566] |
lee young , TX | not only was this THE Blackhawk plane; Chop Chop; Stanislawsky(?) and the other 4 unnamed of the Blackhawk Squadron but also was featured in Steve Savage indicating a necessary radarman named Logan which Steve nicknamed "Logy" which allegedly replaced the Sabres. this was the most beautiful fighter until the 102 Delta Daggers which were active when i was at Ellington AFB. Shame it didnt work out 12/30/2006 @ 18:11 [ref: 15046] |
J.C. Chicago, IL | Aurora made a large plastic XF-90 kit in the middle to late 1950's and into the early '60's at least.
It may have been 1/24th scale, but it was HUGE compared to any other 1/24th fighter kit.
I left the tip tanks off mine and painted the outer wing panels and tail in "International Orange" as if it were based above the Arctic Circle as part of a NORAD / SAC Squadron.
I read The Blackhawk avidly, not for the "plots". but for the PLANES....!!!
Pity they never had the engines they needed and were never given an "area rule" (coke bottle) fuselage to be able go supersonic....both were necessary, witness the X and YF-102's inability to go past Mach untill redesigned.
I somehow think the F-90 would have been more forgiving in flight than the F-104. Of course the F-104 would have been all over it, even with the best of engines and area rule.....but as much as I like 104's it was a killer, a good friend of mine lost a son to a F-104..somewhere over the central Pacific, just disappeared...NATO got the regular ejection seats but still Germany had a bad time with them. I'd like to think many of these men would still be with us if they had been in a F-90C or D, if they had existed.
05/24/2006 @ 20:30 [ref: 13383] |
Don B. , BC | I too made a model of this plane in the 1950s. About that time the F-90 was "the" plane in a popular comic strip. The comic might have been an updated version of "Terry And The Pirates", but I'm not sure. Perhaps someone can confirm the comic book connection 02/13/2006 @ 00:38 [ref: 12485] |
Rob , NM | Thanks to those who provided additional pictures. I built a model of this in the late sixties when I was only five or six years old. I wish I still had it. What a beautiful airframe. 06/14/2005 @ 22:30 [ref: 10488] |
Jimbo , TX | Yep, the remaining 90 airframe IS in the restoration shop at Wright-Patterson. It was discovered on the test range, and the skin had to be stripped for de-tox. All that's left is the fuse frame, and it's in pretty poor condition. Good luck to the restoration staff. 8/29/04 08/30/2004 @ 23:56 [ref: 8185] |
Roger Gresham Yuma, AZ | I recently read where one of the two XF-90s was rediscovered at a Nevada Nuclear test Site and is being decontaminated for eventual display at th USAF museum. Hope this is true. 06/10/2003 @ 01:13 [ref: 6493] |
Edward Gorcenski Troy, NY | According to Ben Rich, the USAF in its infinite wisdom cancelled the engine development of the airplane, leaving it vastly underpowered. 04/03/2002 @ 21:21 [ref: 4651] |